Talladega
Nights: The Ballad of Ricky Bobby (Blu-ray + Full Screen DVD)
Picture: B/C Sound: B/C+ Extras: C Film: D
After Bewitched, Will Ferrell has survived to be big box office
again with the surprisingly big summer box office hit Talladega Nights: The
Ballad of Ricky Bobby (2006)
which became the “leave your brain at the door hit” that every studio hopes
for. We already had our theatrical
critic go after it for being dumb and pointless before the tons of cash started
top roll in, as this review demonstrates:
http://www.fulvuedrive-in.com/review/4075/Talladega+Nights:+The+Ballad+of+Ricky+Bobby+(Theatrical+Film+Review)
Even with
all of its problems and there are many, I can see why it was a hit, besides the
NASCAR factor. Once again many of the
blockbusters that failed to perform left it open for this film to do better
since people wanted to spend their money on some film they thought would be
fun. Subconsciously, especially since
Ferrell always impersonated him so well, I think some of the success (not
necessarily out of anger either) had to do with so many being tired of the
second President Bush and how different is Ricky Bobby’s accent from the one
Ferrell uses for Bush?
The CG
animated Cars (reviewed elsewhere on
this site) also did not hurt getting audiences in the mood for their love of
automobiles. That kind of related
synergy happens, which is sadly why some films bomb because the studios try to
have too much of the same kind of product the competing studios are working
on. The film is weak and I have a
feeling people may not find this as rewatchable, but ironically, having a
better fidelity format like Blu-ray might better recapture what fun viewers in
theaters had, making it more rewatchable than it would be on standard DVD. It will be interesting to see how this sells
in both formats.
The 1080p
2.35 X 1 digital High Definition image should have looked really good, but
Cinematographer Oliver Wood’s camerawork has the same peculiar slight
degradation and odd color as the Fats & Furious films, especially their
HD-DVD versions. What is going on here? Has the NASCAR aesthetic gone too far? Had digital made it too easy to just goof off
instead of presenting good cinematography in a racing film? For this, we cannot strongly recommend the
HD-DVD of John Frankenheimer’s Grand
Prix (1966), likely to come to Blu-ray as well). Here, it looks phony, though the 35mm print
was not this odd. The 1.33 X 1 Full
Screen DVD is very pasty in detail, softer than expected throughout and always
has odd moments of distortion that are annoying.
The PCM
5.1 mix is better than that of the Dolby Digital 5.1 mix here, with the sound
really kicking in during the racing and maybe slapstick action moments. Part of the reason is that this was one of
the only films this year to take advantage of the full 8-channel version of
Sony’s theatrical-only Sony Dynamic Digital Sound format. However, it is not used to its fullest
extent, though this mix has some good moments.
The Dolby Digital 5.1 on the Full Screen DVD does not always match the
image and seems cut down to match the blocked-off image in awkward ways. A Widescreen DVD is also available, while the
Blu-ray was the disc included with the first round of PlayStation 3
machines. Needless to say it is not the
best demo.
Extras
are many and include 13 more minutes not seen in theaters, deleted and extended
Scenes, gag reel, Line-O-Rama, alternate lines not used in film, interviews
with Ricky, Cal and Carley, bonus race footage, Will Ferrell Returns To Talladega, feature length audio commentary
with the director & company, Daytona 500 Spot, NASCAR Chase for the Nextel
Cup Spot, interviews with Jean Girard and Gregory Walker & Texas Ranger:
Montage and Outtakes, more deleted scenes: What’d You Do Today? & Cal Calls
Ricky, Ricky and Cal’s Commercials and Ricky and Cal’s Public Service
Announcement. Well, if you did not get
the joke or get enough of it form the film, these extras should more than
satisfy all your Ricky Bobby needs.
- Nicholas Sheffo
